That Mockingbird Won't Sing
by JokerCarnage5
Summary: Grossology S3E5. Paige Logan has wronged plenty of people in her life but none so much as Mr. Fowler. He is now back to enact his revenge, even if he has to destroy the entire city to do so. Can the Grossologists stop the threat of his mechanical birds and save Paige before it's too late?
1. Prologue

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Prologue**

After another Thursday at school, Paige Logan was nearly at her home. Usually she would have her chauffer drive her but today she wanted to take her time getting home. Greg (sometimes nicknamed Rudy) was walking her home. She kind of wished to hold the handsome boy's hand but his were busy carrying all her books. "Thanks for carrying my books Greg. It was very gentlemanly of you."

Greg grinned. "No problem Paige." _'Why don't you invest in a backpack you stupid bimbo.'_

Paige smiled happily. _'Greg has really been into me lately. Of course, I knew he would once he realized what a total loser Abby was.'_

They finally reached Paige's mansion. It was one of the largest residence in the city, situated a top a large hill and surrounded by tall stone walls. Paige pressed a button by the fence and after a buzz, the large gates opened up. She then turned to Greg and he handed her the books. "You wanna stay with me for a bit?" Paige asked, bopping her head towards her house. "We can stay in my room and I can make the help whip something up for us."

"Um…" Greg hesitated, like he felt he needed to go with her but didn't want to. "Nah, its fine." He finally replied.

Paige pouted disappointed. "Your lost." She lightened up a bit and said, "See you tomorrow then."

"Wait!" Greg called out.

Paige turned back to him, grinning. "Yes?"

"Well, there's something I want to ask you."

"What?" Paige was getting giddy, hopping her long standing crush would finally pop the question she'd been waiting to answer.

Greg's lower lip quivered and his fists were shacking. Then he suddenly just laughed awkwardly and rubbed his neck. "You know what, I suddenly forgot what I was gonna ask."

"Fine, whatever!" Paige snapped at him before turning on her heels and walked towards the house.

The gates closed in front of Greg and he let out a sigh.

*Greg* *Greg*

Greg tensed up at that screechy sound. Slowly, he looked up and saw a crow perched atop the white wall. His eyes widen in horror. He knew who that bird belonged to.

*Greg* *Follow* *Follow*

The bird kept croaking before flying off the wall.

Despite the fear, Greg reluctantly ran after the bird. The crow lead him thru the city. On occasion it would rest to let the teenager catch up.

Eventually, Greg reached an abandoned farm atop a muddy hill on the outskirts of town. The yard was full of various birds. A flock of turkeys scurried out of the way as the boy came sprinting. In a naked cherry tree was a young cuckoo bird sitting in a nest far too small for it. A small singing bird then flew to the cuckoo bird and stuffed a worm down its beak. Atop the roof, a buzzard glared predatorily down at the boy. Greg couldn't help but wonder how many of these birds were real and how many were robotics.

The crow flew straight into a barn and Greg followed. Even thou no lights inside the barn were turned on, the large entrances allowed the sun to illuminate most of the alley. Looking around, Greg realized this was the kind of barn the farmers would have to stockpile hay rather than keep animals.

The crow landed on a flight of wooden stairs. *Follow* *Follow*

Greg gulped but followed the bird up the stairs, the wood creaking under his feet. As he went further upstairs, he heard the faint sound of someone singing.

" _Hush little baby, don't say a word.  
Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.  
And if that mockingbird won't sing,  
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring…"_

At the end of the stairs was a door with neither knob nor handle. The crow landed in front of it and started picking at it. *Follow* *Follow*

When Greg reached the door, his body stiffen with fear. _'What if he kills me? I will never see my family or my friends again. But if I don't do as he says he kills me for sure.'_ With those horrid thoughts in mind, Greg pushed the door open and stepped into the loft.

*Greg* *Greg*

The crow kept gawking as it flew in, as to announce the boy's arrival.

The barn's loft had a triangle shaped ceiling and at both walls were flocks of crows, ravens and magpies that perched atop horizontal roosts. In one of the corners were two ravens, fighting over a rotten rat carcass. Unlike the barn alley below, the loft was not even nearly as illuminated. The only light shining in was thru the small slip of a closed window at the other end of the room.

In front of the window sat an old man in a rocking chair. Even thou most of his body was obscured by the shadows, the man's body was short and scrawny but his large head and glossy glasses gave the impression of a menacing owl or perhaps an alien from an old horror movie.

"Have you-have you asked her out yet?" The man hissed, saliva spitting out as he enunciated the words.

"N-n-no." Greg stammered.

The old man's body was shacking with anger until he couldn't hold in his frustration any longer. "WHY NOT!"

Startled by the scream, some of the birds flew of their perches, crowing and shrieking. Greg protectively held his arms over his face. Not until all the birds settled down did he dare to speak. "These things take time." The replied meekly. "I need to charm her first before I can ask her out."

"I doubt that." The old man stated and brought forth something that looked like a book. He browsed thru it until he reached a page in the middle of it. He then threw the book onto the floor with the page open for Greg to see. "According to this old diary I stole, she's had her greedy little eyes on you for some time. You can probably ask her out at any time you want. Admit it!" Accusingly, he pointed at the boy with his long, bony finger, made even longer by his unclipped yellowish nail. "You've been stalling."

Greg staggered backwards by the accusation. "No, I promise I-

The crows and the magpies suddenly came to life in a cacophony of terrible screeching and flapping wings, silencing the scared teenager.

"Now listen carefully to me, boy." The old man raised his voice. "Tomorrow you will ask her out and after school you will take her to the park for a romantic picnic. There, I'll be ambushing her and finally teach that greedy little brat a lesson!" The old man reached into a small bag hanging off his chair and tossed out some bird seeds onto the floor. The dark birds flew down and started picking at the food. "And remember, if you don't do as I say I'll turn you and everyone you care about into bird food! Now, leave!"

His scream once again scared the birds into a frenzy as their screeching took to the air. Greg didn't say anything. He just ran out of the loft and out of the barn as fast as he could.

The scrawny old man sauntered over to pick the diary off the floor. "Paige Logan. It's been years since you broke me, since you ruined my life but I will finally have my vengeance. I can assure you, your demise will be quite… _fowl_." As the old man slowly thumbed the initials on the book cover he started to sinisterly chuckle to himself. His chuckle raised in in tone until it broke out into a bombastic, evil laughter. The laughter drove the crows, the ravens and the magpies into an even wilder frenzy. In their panicked furry they managed to knock open the window panel and started pouring into the sky above the farm. To the sound of the evil man's laughter, their dark wings blackened the sky.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Oh no, I think I accidentally gave Greg more personality in this prologue than he ever had in the show, lol. Seriously, I am going to call him Greg from now on even thou I called him Rudy in** _ **Darkest Blight: Part 1**_ **(will probably edit that at some point). I only called him Rudy because a few other fanfic authors as well as the Grossology Wiki called him Rudy but looking thru the show, the only time his character was ever mentioned by name was when he introduced himself as Greg to Abby & Petunia **_**(S2E16 Squirm)**_ **so unless I've missed something his name is officially Greg. Moral of the story, never trust the Grossology Wiki!**

 **So, we're finally at episode 5 of my Season 3 series and it's the first where Paige plays a pivotal role. For those that don't know, I absolutely HATE Paige. Definitely my least favourite character of the series (and perhaps of all time). I will stress however that I disapprove of hate-fics or bash-fics or whatever they're called where an author has clearly only writen the story to spite a character they don't like. Those kinds of fanfics never seem to have any substance to them and really only come off as really childish to me. So I promise you all, this won't be a fanfic were I constantly hate on a character I happen to dislike. It will have an actual story, it will have something to say and I hope even people that like Paige will be able to have fun reading this as well. In the author's notes I will also explain how I plan to make Paige a better character.**

 **As always, I appreciate any feedback you guys can give me.**

 _ **See you on the flipside, Grossologists!**_


	2. Chapter 1

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

Friday at noon.

Abby was on her lunchbreak, preparing for her biology class. She moved her quintessential books out of her locker and stuffed them into her backpack. Since biology was such an easy subject to her, she was happy to have it a bit easy the coming hour. However, the moment she closed her locker, she jolted with a frightened squeak at the horrific scene of Paige's body pressed against the neighbouring locker by Greg as their lips and tongues were locked in a passionate throttle for dominance.

Paige took her lips off the blonde boy to give Abby a nasty ear to ear grin. "Oh, hello Archer. Didn't see you there."

Abby blinked the shock out of her eyes and sneered. "I'm sure you didn't, Paige." She said sarcastically while rolling her eyes. "So, you two finally tied the knot?"

"Not just that. Greg asked me out on a date this afternoon. A romantic picnic at the park. He's so romantic." Paige sighed happily and looked at Greg before turning back to Abby. "Of course you know all about that."

"We broke up two years ago, Paige." Abby replied with a sigh. "I don't care much who he's dating now a days." _'Although it still irks me it's you.'_

"Two years you say. But Abby, during those two years I don't think any boy have asked you out. Poor, poor Archer." Paige said with mockingly fake concern.

"I haven't been particularly interested in finding a boyfriend lately, Paige. There's more to being a girl than cute boys and wasting money on lip-gloss."

Paige pouted for a moment. "Why are you being so defensive, Archer?"

"I'm not. Why do you seem so passive aggressive?"

As the two girls bickered, Greg looked like he was in hell. Like he would rather be anywhere else but here.

"You surprise me, Archer. I thought you'd be happy for us." She sarcastically yet gleefully exclaimed.

"But I am happy for you two, Paige. I'm just amazed it took Greg this long to give in to all your obvious come-ons." Abby sarcastically retorted. _'I shouldn't have said that. That derogatory comment was beneath me.'_ "Now, if you excuse me, I have to be somewhere." Abby said and started slowly walking away from the couple, holding her head up and her eyes closed. She knew Paige was only trying to hurt her and she wouldn't let her.

Paige smirked. "I'm sort of happy you dated him before, Archer. Now I can avoid doing the same mistakes as you did." She turned to Greg. "Greg, you told me earlier why you two broke up. Can you remind me of what it was?"

"Paige…" Greg whined.

Angrily, Paige grasped his shirt collar. "Say it!" She demanded thru gritting teeth.

Greg really didn't want to say it. Even thou he and Abby broke up a long time ago and his affection for her had long time dwindled, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. However, if he didn't stay on Paige's good side then she may not follow him to the park later and if he didn't bring her there then he really didn't want to think of what that evil man would do. "I said she had the B.O of a skunk." He reluctantly admitted.

Hearing those words felt like a blade going thru Abby's spine. Her eyes widen and her legs stiffen for a moment before she resumed walking. She refused to let Paige see her pain.

"Oh, right. I always knew she stank figuratively but literally too…" She could hear Paige giggle.

The moment Abby rounded the corner she picked up speed. Her legs moved her in an overly rushed march thru the corridor. She held her head low so no one would see her face. Once she was at a decent distance away from her tormentors, she stopped, leaned against a wall and sighed deeply. _"Stupid Paige. Stupid Greg. How could he?"_

Abby thought back to the time she and Greg was a couple. It only lasted a few months but she was happy during those months. Greg was such a nice, handsome and charming guy to be with. She even had her first ever kiss with him. Then the spark in their relationship slowly died off. They seemed to have less and less to talk about. Then there was that one thing he said that had always irked her for some reason. _"You're weird Abby but that's what I like about you."_ Abby didn't even understand why that sentence irritated her so. She knew it was meant as a compliment but for some reason it made her feel degraded. Later, Greg confessed he wasn't attracted to her in the same way anymore and wanted to break up. No harsh words were exchanged, no tears cried, just an awkward break-up talk. Even after that thou, Greg was a pleasant guy.

' _I guess people change. Except for Paige. Even after all these years she goes out of her way to hurt me.'_ Abby shook her head and dried the droplets that formed underneath her eyes with her sleeve before walking towards biology class. _'No, Abby. You know you can't take it personally. Paige does this to a bunch of people, not just you. She's always going after people's insecurities just to make herself feel better or maybe because she thought she can. Sometimes I wish she could just disappear.'_

Abby suddenly stopped in her tracks when she saw a familiar face.

Chester stood partly hidden behind a locker, nervously clutching the rems of his backpack as his sad, brown eyes observed a trio of guys further down the corridor as they talked amongst each other. _'Come on, Chester. People do this every day. Just walk over to them and strike up a conversation.'_ Chester thought to himself. He took a step forth but then hesitated and stepped back. _'But what if I forget what to say or say something embarrassing? What if I make them feel uncomfortable? I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Maybe its best if I just stay by myself.'_

Abby quietly leaned over his shoulder. "Stalking someone?"

Chester nearly jumped out of his skin and stumbled backwards. "A-Abby."

"Whoops, did I scare you?" Abby apologetically asked, although it was hard not to smile at Chester's adorable facial expression.

"No and for the record I wasn't stalking anyone." Chester answered and gazed over at the three boys. The three boys stared at him puzzled before resuming talking with each other. Chester sighed.

Abby looked at the boys with a puzzled expression before turning back to Chester. "You have something to say to those guys?"

Chester was nervously silent for a moment. "Kind of but not really?" He replied while scratching his neck.

Abby sneered. "Have they been mean to you?"

"No, no, they're cool. It's just…well, you know…" Chester babbled, too insecure to get his thoughts together to form a sentence.

"Ah, I see." Abby said. Spontaneously, she grabbed Chester's wrist and rushed over to the trio, dragging the blond boy with her. "Hey guys." She greeted them.

"Hey."

"Hello."

"Yo." The three boys greeted one after another.

"Hey. My buddie Chester has something to tell you." Abby said, gesturing to him.

Chester got so nervous one could literally see him sweating. He was fidgeting like a paranoid squirrel. "Um, hey." He gulped nervously. "I-I like your shirt. Are you a _Maggotica_ fan?" He asked, looking at one of the guys who wore a black shirt with the logo of the popular rock band printed over.

"Sure, they're pretty bitchin." The guy replied.

"Really? I'm a fan too." Chester quickly got excited. "I got several of their albums at home. Maybe I can show them to you some day."

"Um…nah that fine." The _Maggotica_ fan replied nervously before jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "We should probably head to class now."

"Yeah, see you…um, Chester?" One of the other guys said awkwardly before they all left.

Chester sighed and hung his head in despair. _"I knew they wouldn't like me."_

Abby smiled encouragingly at her friend. "I think you were just getting a little too excited. That usually throws people off."

Chester raised his head a little. "Really?"

"Yeah but don't worry about it. No harm done." Abby waved off. "If you want people to be your friends then you have to show you're comfortable around them."

"If that all it takes then why don't you got any friends?"

Abby sneered and tilted her head.

Chester gasped and covered his mouth with his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that. I never meant to insult you. Sorry." Chester looked like he was ready to faint, like his naturally tanned skin turned a few shades paler.

Abby smiled. "That's okay, Chester. I know you wouldn't hurt me intentionally. Besides, you're wrong. You're my friend."

Chester raised his head, his smile grinning from ear to ear.

"You are my friend, right?" Abby asked.

"Of course you are. You're my best friend." Chester immediately replied.

"Come on. We got biology class soon." Abby exclaimed and the two continued down the corridor together.

* * *

Later that day, Greg took Paige to Ringworm Park like he had promised. As expected, Greg was carrying everything for the picnic. He carried the basket with the food in his left hand while carrying the rolled-up blanket on his back. Paige was affectionately clinging to his right arm.

"You know Greg, I really like this place even thou it's one of those places that let's in homeless people." Paige said.

"You're so tolerant, Paige." Greg lied thru gritting teeth.

"I know." Paige responded, smiling.

There was a fair number of people in the park, enjoying various activities. Some sat on the park bench and ate ice cream, a few kids skated and an old man was feeding the birds. Greg got a bit concerned they wouldn't get any privacy but since their destination was a grassy knoll next to the woods he expected they'd be alone.

"It's a beautiful day. Isn't it, Greg?"

"Yeah." He answered uninterested.

Paige's smile suddenly turned into a disgusted scowl when her eyes caught something gross. "I take it back. There's a big, fat cloud hanging over our sunny day."

Greg blinked puzzled at Paige's statement before following her gaze to see what she was looking at. It was an overweight man eating a hot dog he'd just bought from a vender. His belly was so big his shirt didn't entirely cover it.

"Fatties are so nauseating. I mean, I laugh just as hard at seeing fat people fall as the next person but seeing them eat makes me want to shove my fingers down my throat more than usual." Paige exclaimed.

As they walked past a little boy with a skateboard she got a sinister idea. Even thou she didn't get many of them, the idea made her grin. Using her right foot, she inconspicuously moved the skateboard away from the kid and into the path of the overweight man. As planned, the overweight man stepped on the skateboard and slipped face first to the ground. His hot dog meanwhile, flew thru the air and hit the little kid right in the face, smearing his eyes and nostrils with mustard. The kid started crying and screaming.

Paige meanwhile started laughing so hard she had to clutch her abdomen. "Now I'm happy again." She sighed pleased.

"I'm happy you're happy, Paige." Greg laughed nervously like he had a gun to his head.

A few minutes later, Greg led Paige up a tall, grassy hill. He stopped once they reached the top, shaded by the nearby forest trees and unrolled the blanket and laid it onto the ground. "Great place, eh? The woods will give us shade and you get a great view from here." Greg exclaimed.

Then, Paige unceremoniously laid down on her back, taking up the entire blanket. She sighed in a tiered manner. "Thanks Greg, I needed a rest. Laughing at fat people makes me tired."

"Um, Paige…" Greg sounded confused. "I thought we could chare the blanket. Also, I need room for the basket."

Paige raised an eyebrow. "Oh, right." She sat up and scooted over a little. Greg sat down next to her and placed the basket inbetween them. "There's nothing with too many calories in there, right?" She asked bitterly.

"No, no, just some ham and cheese sandwiches, some vanilla cookies but I can eat them for you. And a bottle of lemonade." Greg stated.

What followed for Greg was for an excruciating hour of Paige chattering nonstop.

 _5 minutes in._

"…and after that hussy refused to give up the handbag, the store thru me out! Can you believe that? They said I was too laud or something but my dad fixed everything and in the end I even got the handbag."

 _30 minutes in._

"…so my dad fired her." Paige laughed. "That taught that maid to never insult me in Portuguese. At least I think that was what she was doing. I only overheard her talking…"

 _60 minutes in._

"…my dad will buy me new horse for my birthday. A blooded saddlebreed this time."

Greg decided to take the chance to say something. "Really? That is great. You know I actually learned how to ride a horse at-

"Excuse me. I wasn't done talking." Paige interrupted. "Dad said I either can have the car or the horse but I was like, dad it's not like I will use the horse and the car for the same thing and besides…"

Paige's voice grew fainter and fainter to Greg but it never stopped nagging him. _'Oh my god. I have to shut her up before I grow a brain tumour.'_ Greg very gently cupped Paige's left cheek and she fell silent. Greg then closed the distance between them and kissed her. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself." He said with his most charming _ladies' man-smile_.

"Um…no problem." She exclaimed blushing, all her arrogance like vanished.

Suddenly, they heard a terrifying and deafening screech. In the next second, a pair of vicious talons swooped over them and nabbed Paige's pink hat. Paige shrieked and clung to her boyfriend for dear life. "Greg, what is that? It looks like a giant owl, like the one that attacked junior high.

The avian looking creature were already so far away they could only distinguish its silhouette but Paige was right in that it looked like a huge owl with a nearly two meters wide wingspan.

Greg narrowed his eyes. _'He's here.'_ "We have to flee into the woods!" He proclaimed.

"What?"

The owl-like being made a turn around and came towards the teenagers once again with lightning speed.

"The woods! Now!" Greg shouted, pulled Paige up by her wrist and ran into the forest, dragging the girl along. They kept on running thru the woods, not slowing down for a second. Greg knew that this was the plan coming into fruition. There was no going back now.

"Greg, wait! These shoes aren't made for trekking." Paige whined.

The avian creature suddenly swept thru the foliage and its talons snapped at the couple but they managed to duck in the last second. The predator went out of sight above the tree tops again.

"Come on!" Greg shouted before dragging Paige onto her feet again and resumed running, although this time he changed direction. They heard the terrifying screech of the creature above them. Suddenly, debris of broken braches fell right in front of them, causing them to stop in their tracks. Greg turned direction once again. "This way. Come on!"

The couple ran out onto a clearing where Greg stopped. He had deliberately lead them to this place. He knew here was where it was going to happen. Paige was so exhausted that she rested her hands against her knees, panting like a sledge dog. "Greg, *pant* what's going *pant* on?" She vented heavily.

Greg took a hold of her shoulders. "No matter what happens, stay here." He exclaimed before running away and hide behind some trees.

"Wait? What are you saying?" Paige cried out, perplexed. Suddenly, a shadow fell over Paige, prompting her to look up. There, up in the sky was yet another giant bird. However, was much larger than the one that had chased them and it wasn't an owl. It was a pelican with a 9 meters long wingspan and it was diving right towards her. Once it got closer and opened its beak, one could tell that this wasn't a real pelican but in fact a machine built in the animal's likeness. Paige screamed of fear as the robotic bird swooped down and scooped her up in its huge beak, landing her in its throat pouch. The pelican then landed on the ground.

The throat pouch Paige was now trapped in was different than a normal pelican's as it was made out of transparent yellow plastic, allowing Greg to see the struggling girl inside. He was so disgusted with himself, he felt like throwing up.

"Greg, help! Someone, get me out of here! I don't want to become guano!" Paige screamed as she tried in vain to tear herself out of the pouch. A chill went up her spine when she once again heard the terrifying screech of the owl creature. Looking to where the sound was coming from, she saw the shape of the owl creature flying thru the canopies before landing underneath a tree. It was completely obscured by the shades, except for its glistening red eyes. Both the trapped Paige and the cowering Greg stared at it in grave silence, not daring to speak a word.

The owl then did something unexpected. It talked. "Paige Logan, we finally meet again. Except this time, I am the tormentor and you are the tormented."

"Wait a second, owls don't talk." Paige exclaimed dumbfounded.

"You're smarter than I remember, it seems." The owl replied sarcastically and stepped into the light, revealing himself to be indeed a human being and a familiar one at that. It was Mr. Fowler. The old custodian of Ringworm Junior High, driven insane by Paige's harassment.

Now he wore a flight suit which made him look even more like an owl. The flight suit consisted of a brown leather west with a fussy neck collar, a jetpack and long, metallic feathers on his arms. His feet were armed with steel boots with hydraulic talons, consisting of four claws on each foot. He also wore a bronze coloured pilot helmet with red visors and a beak-like edge at the front.

Mr. Fowler smirked maliciously. "It's time for you to finally pay the price for ruining my life."

Paige blinked puzzled. "Um…who are you again?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:  
**

 **Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. Life sort of got in the way.**

 **I hope the scene with Abby and Chester didn't come off as too romantic since that wasn't what I was going for. I tried to make it seem more like Abby was helping Chester out with his problem as a way to distract herself from her own (not that she doesn't care about him any less thou). I also wanted to give a bit of insight into Chester's insecurities.**

 **I had problems coming up with a good name for a band Chester would listen to (I know nothing about music) but I settled for** _ **Maggotica**_ **, as a play on Metallica.**

 **I'm glad to finally get to write something with Mr. Fowler as a major character. Despite being in only one episode, Mr. Fowler is one of my favourite Grossology villains. Mostly because I actually felt sorry for him. Even thou it was obvious he would end up being the villain of the episode, there was still a part of me that wished that this poor, abused man wouldn't end up being the bad guy. There was also something strangely human with his character. I got the feeling that even thou he was such a talented inventor he was too insecure to do anything with his talent. His character also reminded me of one of my favourite Spider-Man villains, The Vulture (who was the inspiration for the new outfit he wears in this story).**

 **As always, I appreciate any feedback you guys can give me.**

 _ **See you next time, Grossologists!**_


	3. Chapter 2

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

Mr. Fowler kept on smirking. His wings and owl inspired suit struck a menacing pose. Or rather it would if he hadn't been so short. "Yes. You must be surprised to see me again after so long, Paige Logan."

From inside the pouch of the robotic pelican, the blonde girl's expression turned from scared to puzzled. "Actually, I have no memory of ever seeing you. Have you ever been to Brazil? Cause you're sort of dressed like carnival dancer but with more clothes on."

Mr. Fowler growled before reluctantly taking of his helmet, revealing to her his face. "Now, do you recognize me?"

"Sorry, I don't usually remember old people unless they're rich. They have a tendency to just go away after a while." Paige replied.

Mr. Fowler got so mad, his teeth threaten to scrape off the calcium from all the gritting, his fists clenched and a visible artery in his forehead was throbbing. "I'M MISTER EVAN FOWLER! THE JUNIOR HIGH CUSTODIAN YOU DROVE TO INSANITY WITH ALL YOUR HARRASMENT! HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER ME?"

There was a moment of deathly silence. Paige blinked and suddenly it dawned on her. "Oh yeah, you were the janitor back in Ringworm Junior High that was supposed to get rid of the pigeons. It was your fault we lost the price for most beautiful school."

"Really? That is what you remember? Not you're constant harassment or my mental breakdown? OR THE GIANT MECHANICAL OWL I BUILD?"

"That owl was mechanical? Wait, you were the one behind it?"

Mr. Fowler was dumbfounded. "You didn't even know that until now! Yes, it was me and I did it because your bossiness caused me to have a mental breakdown!" He closed in on her.

"Well, if only you'd done your job then maybe I wouldn't have had to be bossy." Paige stated.

"I did all I could with what I had. There was no reason for you to drive me like a slave!"

Suddenly, Mr. Fowler heard a rustle from the surrounding woods. "Come out here, Greg. You got no reason to hide." Mr. Fowler hissed.

Still hiding behind a tree, Greg gulped nervously before reluctantly trotting out of hiding, his head hanging low in shame.

"Greg! Kick the ass of this wrinkly old scrub and get me out of here!" Paige shouted.

Mr. Fowler chuckled. "Don't you understand, Paige? Greg was in on it all along."

Paige couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What!"

"I needed to isolate you so I acquired the help of the only person that could get you alone."

Paige felt something akin to a furious storm gathering inside her chest. She turned to Greg, his usually handsome face was contorted into a coward's quivering frown. "Is that true? Did you sell me out?" She shouted.

Greg took a short step towards her, his pleading eyes locked on her face. "It's not like that, Paige. Mr. Fowler told me he had my entire family under observation and if I didn't cooperate he would kill them. You have to understand, I didn't have-

"SHUT UP! YOU BACKSTABBING, CUTEY-FACED BASTARD! YOU BETRAYED ME AND I'LL NEVER EVER, EVER FORGIVE YOU! ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE, I'LL THERE DOWN THE SHRINE TO YOU HAVE HIDDEN IN MY WAREDROBE!" Paige shouted at the top of her lungs. The pelican's throat pouch stretched out as the furious girl's arms tried to reach thru the plastic to grab her former crush. Wanting to crush his skull like an eggshell.

Mr. Fowler maliciously snickered. _'It was true that I needed Greg to isolate her but this was the main reason. For whatever reason, she's been in love with him since Ringworm Junior High. While her pain is nothing compared to what I've endured, it's a good start to her punishment.'_

"Greg," Mr. Fowler spoke up, silencing the teenagers, "you can go now. I don't need you anymore."

"Re-really? I can just leave and you will leave me and my family alone?" Greg asked, sounding shocked. A cold sweat drop ran down his temple.

Mr. Fowler placed his hand on his chest and bowed in a gentlemanly manner. "I can assure you I won't harm a hair on their heads. From here on out Greg, I am forever out of your life."

Greg sighed in relief. He then turned on his heels and started walking. However, he stopped after only a few steps. He looked at Paige, her eyes still starring him down with maddening anger. "What will happen to her?" He asked, turning to Mr. Fowler. "You won't kill her, right?"

Mr. Fowler grinned. "Why would you care? You told me you never had any feelings for her."

Paige gasped. "You jerk!"

"Just tell me." Greg demanded to know, raising his voice.

Mr. Fowler huffed amused. "Don't worry. I won't kill her. I will just scare her a little. Then, once her family has paid her ransom, I'll let her go. A happy ending for everyone."

"I won't be happy!" Paige shouted but was ignored.

"I must insist that you leave now, Greg. Return to your healthy family and boring school life and forget all this." Mr. Fowler exclaimed while shooing him away.

Greg gave Paige one last look before running away, soon vanishing from their sight.

Once the sound of Greg's footsteps died down did Mr. Fowler's content smile turn into a disgruntle scowl. "Sorry Greg, no lose ends." The former custodian raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Paige saw her surroundings darken by a looming shadow. Looking up, she saw yet another giant bird descending onto the clearing. It landed next to Mr. Fowler who didn't even bother looking at it. The bird was a gigantic King Vulture with a characteristic meaty, wrinkly head and evil looking eyes. Unlike a typical king vulture who only had a two meter long wingspan, this one had a wingspan of eight meters and stood four meters tall. It was obviously another one of Mr. Fowler's creations.

First now did Mr. Fowler turn to the vulture. "Track down the blonde boy and eliminate him." The vulture's eyes blinked red for a second before it spread its huge wings and with one powerful motion it left the ground and flew off to find its target.

Mr. Fowler then turned his sights on Paige. He scuttled over to her, almost like a vulture frolicking around a carcass. The girl flinched at the old man who pressed his face against the yellow plastic with an evil grin across his face. "As for you little princess, I want you to get me in contact with your father."

* * *

Greg had stopped running and was now simple walking thru the park, equally exhausted as anxious. "Alright Greg, try to relax." He told himself as he popped a bubble-gum into his mouth. "It's over now. I can go home to my family and stop worrying about mechanical birds."

Greg started wondering how his school life would be from now on. Paige would obviously tell everyone about his betrayal once this hostage business was done. Would people be understanding? Would his friends still be his friends? All these questions buzzed inside his head like an active bee hive. Despite this, he smiled sadly. "I can never get Paige to forgive me but maybe Abby can forgive me." He said to himself and took out his cell phone, still feeling guilty over what he said earlier in school today. He called her and held the phone to his ear.

After a while, Abby answered. _"Hello."_

"Hey, Abby. It's Greg."

" _Yeah, what do you want?"_ Abby asked.

Greg felt lucky. Abby sounded peeved but not necessarily angry. As her ex, Greg knew what an angry Abby sounded like. "I called to apologize for what happened at school."

" _Really?"_ He could literally feel Abby's left eyebrow raise thru the phone.

"Yes, really. All that making out in front of you was Paige's idea and what I said about your smell, I only said that cause I knew Paige wanted to hear it. You know what a bitch she can be."

" _You're pretty brazen to say that about your own girlfriend."_ Abby said, sounding a bit coy.

"She ain't my girlfriend anymo-

Suddenly, a deafening scree sent shivers down his spine. He turned around and saw a giant vulture in the sky above, heading towards him with deliberate speed. Greg screamed in horror and started running for his life. The vulture picked up speed and gave chase.

" _Greg? Greg! Why did you scream?"_

It wasn't until he heard the echo of Abby's voice that he even remembered the cell phone still in his hand. "I'm being chased by a giant bird!" He shouted into the phone.

" _Wait. What?"_ Abby exclaimed in shock.

"A giant bird! Please, call the cops!"

" _Where are you?"_ Abby asked.

"The park! The park" Greg shouted.

The king vulture swooped down with lightning speed, getting ever nearer to its target. Once it was just above the teenager, it swiped its deadly beak at his head but Greg threw himself at the ground in the last second. The robotic vulture ascended to the sky and turned around to try again.

Greg scurried onto his legs and ran as fast as he could, not even noticing he'd dropped his cell phone. _"Greg? Greg…"_ Abby's voice fruitlessly called out to him.

Greg knew he couldn't out run the bird forever. It was too fast and too powerful. At last, he saw his salvation. A bathroom stall. He prayed to God it was unlocked as he ran like mad towards it. He was a very athletic teenager and covered a lot of ground quickly. The vulture once again swooped down from the sky. Greg's hand reached out, grabbed the handled and fortunately for him it opened. He manged to get inside and close the door just as the bird swopped down, scurried up a dust cloud with its wings before retreating.

Greg locked the door. He sighed out of relief as he slumped down onto the toilet seat. "I'm safe for now." He vented between tiered breathes.

Suddenly, the bathroom stall shook. Greg heard loud claps from the roof and looked up at the ceiling. The bathroom stall shook once again. Then, to Greg's horror, a huge, metallic beak pierced thru the ceiling and carved open a large portion of it when it jerked back. The king vulture was balancing atop the bathroom stall while looking down at Greg like he was a canned herring.

"No, no, no!" Greg shouted as the vulture demolished what was left of the rooftop before reaching down into the bathroom stall. Greg tried to get away but the bird's mechanized beak grabbed a hold of the boy's shirt collar and lifted him off the ground. The bird of prey carried its spoil into the air.

"No, wait! Let me down! Someone, help!" Greg shouted and cried in fear. Looking down, he saw a river. He wondered if the vulture intended to drown him. That was when he heard the sound of a jet-engine zooming thru the air. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the GRS-2 heading towards him.

Abby was in the pilot seat, wearing her yellow suit while Chester sat next to her, wearing his black suit. "Is that a-a king vulture?" Chester asked, baffled.

"Looks like it but much bigger and he got Greg." Abby answered, eyes narrowed.

"So, how do we save him?" Chester asked.

Abby didn't answer. Instead, she forced the controls forward, making the GRS-2 speed directly towards the giant bird. The vulture dodged the vehicle and dove down. It was all according to Abby's plan. _'Sorry, Greg. It's not ideal but it's all I can think of right now.'_ Abby turned the GRS-2 around. A blaster lowered down from its hull and started firing goo at the giant bird.

The vulture avoided the incoming sticky projectiles by flying higher but in doing so, its sharp beak ripped right thru Greg's shirt and the boy plummeted to the water below. His scream of terror ended with a large splash and he disappeared under the water.

"Greg!" Abby shouted in worry.

Chester quickly got off his seat and ran to the door. "I'll save Greg. You keep following that vulture."

"But Chester…"

"You're a better pilot and we can't risk that animal hurting anyone else." Chester exclaimed, clearly stressed.

"Okay but let me at least lower the GRS-2 before you jump." Abby stated and drove the vehicle closer the river. Chester could barely hold his balance with the speed the GRS-2 was diving but he held onto to the doorframe with all his might. Once they were fifteen feet above the water, Abby slowed down as she flew the vehicle parallel to the river at a slow speed. Part of her focus was still on the vulture flying above. She pressed a button and the door in front of Chester opened. "Alright, you can jump now!"

Chester jumped off the alt-terrain vehicle and dived head first into the river. The water Chester found himself in was dark and murky but at least it wasn't too cold. Chester's eyes finally caught sight of Greg's blonde hair has the teenage boy sank towards the bottom. Chester swam to him and wrapped his an arm around the other boy's chest before heading to the surface. Even thou Chester saw the sun above the surface getting ever closer, he started feeling dizzy from the lack of oxygen. The Grossologist scowled determined and kept swimming. _'Come on Chester, keep going. This is your chance to finally help someone.'_

Chester finally broke thru the surface and gasped for air. His relief was short lived thou when he noticed that Greg was still unconscious. He started heading towards the nearest shore. Once the water got shallow enough for him to walk, he wrapped his arms under and over Greg's shoulders and started dragging him from behind onto shore. The beach was of muddy sand but transitioned shortly to a grassy slope.

Once they were on dry land, Chester carefully laid Greg down on the grass before kneeling beside him. "Greg! Greg! Please wake up!" Chester exclaimed while trying to shake some life into the unconscious boy. He held Greg's wrist. "He got a pulse but his breathing's very shallow." Chester proceeded with pressing his hands against Greg's chest to give him CPR. After pumping enough times, he clutched Greg's jaw and blew into him. Luckily, it only took one breath before Greg coughed up water right in Chester face. Greg gasped for air before sitting up and kept coughing up more river water while Chester wiped the wetness from his face.

Chester got up on his feet. "You alright, Gre-guy?" He asked concerned.

"Think so but we need to get out of here." Greg replied and tried to get onto his feet but he was still too woozy from the drowning and collapsed onto the ground.

"Whoa, take it easy. No reason to strain yourself." Chester tried to reassure him, crouching a bit and reaching for him.

"Yes, there is! That bird will come back for me." Greg growled irritated while rising onto his hands and knees.

Chester smiled reassuringly. "My partner is chasing the vulture down right now. She's a real pro so there's no reason to worry."

"No! That bird was created by that evil man. He wants me dead. I have to run!" Greg's voice was somewhere between a hiss and a cry.

Chester tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. _'Has he gotten delusional from the drowning?'_ "Alright, I'll help you get to a safe place. Just calm down." Chester said and helped Greg onto his feet. The two then left the place to look for a safe place, Greg leaning against the Grossologist.

* * *

It took a while but Abby managed to catch up to the king vulture. She was now hot on the bird's tail feathers as the robot and the alt-terrain vehicle participated in an aerial game of cat and mouse. The GRS-2 fired barrage after barrage of green goo but the vulture managed to avoid every attack.

"Darn it. How does Ty make this look so easy?" Abby lamented, envying her brother's piloting skills.

The vulture meanwhile was also measuring up its task. Even thou its A.I was simple, it understood it had to eliminate its pursuer if it would have any chance to go after its intended target, Greg.

The vulture slanted its body and wings upright, making it slow down immediately. Abby wasn't fast enough to slow down herself and quickly found herself underneath the vulture's wings. The bird struck its powerful beak thru the GRS-2's windshield, hooking itself to the vehicle.

Abby looked up at her attacker, fear written all over her face. "Oh, no. What would Ty do in this situation? Something daring and stupid?" After a second of hesitation, Abby decided to act on her impulses. She grabbed a hold of the controllers, forcefully yanked it to its side and the GRS-2 spun around. Abby felt a bit dizzy from the washing machine-treatment but was relieved by how much lighter the vehicle felt. However, once she looked up she was in for a shock.

The vulture's head had been ripped off its body and was now just hanging onto the GRS-2. However, instead of blood, circuits where were coming out of its open neck. Abby then saw to her astonishment, the vulture's headless body flying casually in front of the GRS-2. "It's a robot?" She exclaimed. A series flashbacks to a case over two years ago flooded her mind. All this was so familiar. "Don't tell me _he_ is back again."

Abby fired another barrage of goo at the behemoth and this time she hit it square on the money. Its wings and artificial feathers got mired and immobilized by the green slime. The vulture fell the long way down to the ground. Upon impact, it carved up a long trench in the soil until finally coming to a stop by crashing into a street lamp.

Abby landed the GRS-2 next to the wrecked corpse of the robotic animal before getting out of the vehicle to inspect. Most of the plumage had been ripped from it at the moment of impact and its hull had cracked like a walnut, revealing all its inner machinery.

"So, it was a machine after all. And a very familiar one at that." Abby stated before taping the Gross-Com in her right ear. The Gross-Com was a com-link system LabRat had developed so the field agents could communicate with each other over long distances. While Abby was just getting used to them, she had to admit it was far more convenient than the old Grossometers. "Chester, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Chester's voice crackled thru the earpiece.

"How is Greg? Is he okay?" Abby asked concerned.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's a bit shaken by everything but physically he is fine."

Abby sighed with relief. "Good to hear. Take him to my coordinates."

"You sure that's wise? What about the vulture?" Chester asked.

"Don't worry about it." Abby replied, gazing at the wreckage of the mechanical bird. "It won't fly again."

* * *

After a while, Abby eyed the two boys coming towards her. It was weird. From her perspective, it was almost like the two had switched personalities. The normally chill Greg kept nervously looking up at the sky like a paranoid meerkat on the lookout. While Chester didn't exactly look calm, he definitely seemed more composed than the other blonde.

Once Greg came up to her, Abby watched him pensively for a moment, studying his expressions. She was pretty certain the _confusion light_ emitted from their grossgoggles would mask their identities but she didn't want to risk it. He used to be her boyfriend after all. After a few more seconds, she concluded he didn't suspect anything. "What's your name?" Abby asked sternly.

"Greg." Greg answered.

"Did you know the bird chasing you was a robot?" She asked, gesturing to the pile of junk that used to be the vulture.

"I figured." Greg answered, sounding nervous. He knew what they would ask next and the crime he had to confess too.

Chester looked at the demolished machine. "A robot, eh. I wonder who built it."

"I know." Greg stated. "Mr. Fowler. Mister Evan Fowler."

Abby furrowed her brows. _'So, he is back after all.'_

"Fowler?" Chester clutched his chin, ponderously. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"I've told you about him before." Abby answered. "He was Ringworm Junior High's maintenance engineer until he had to take over for the custodian. He then suffered a mental breakdown and turned to villainy."

"What would he want with you?" Chester asked Greg.

"It wasn't me he was after. It was Paige." Greg admitted.

"Paige?" Abby exclaimed surprised. "Why?"

"He blames her for his mental condition." Greg couldn't take it anymore. "Oh god, what have I done?" He buried his face in his hands as he started crying and slumped down onto the grass.

"What do you mean by that? Didn't you just get caught in the cross fire?" Chester asked.

"No." Greg sobbed. "He approached me a few weeks ago. He said unless I did what he said, he would send his robots after my family. So, I seduced Paige and brought her out here." The blond teen hide his face behind his knees, not daring to see the Grossologist judgmental faces.

Chester exchanged glances with Abby before looking at Greg. "Why didn't you tell the police about this?"

"That doesn't matter now." Abby proclaimed before more was said. She bent down a bit so she got closer to Greg's height. "Greg, where is Paige now?"

Greg wiped some tears off his cheek. "Fowler got her. He said he would release her once her father pays a ransom."

Abby rose up and turned to her fellow Grossologist. "You keep an eye on this guy. I need to make a call."

The redhead rushed back into the GRS-2. Once inside, she called her brother on the Gross-Com. "Ty, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you sis." Ty's voice came crackling thru the earpiece.

"We have a situation."

"Yeah, I know already."

"You do?" Abby exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, LabRat called all of us a few minutes ago."

"So where are you guys now?"

* * *

"We are in Mr. Logan's office right now. Apparently, he got a call from Fowler just a moment ago. Stay where you are and I'll keep you updated." Ty explained and hung up.

He, Andy and Naomi stood in a huge, red carpeted office room with wall sized windows. In front of them, behind an office desk that seemed small in comparison to the size of the room stood a tall, blonde man with a handsome face, wearing a white suit jacket. His name was Tony Logan. Paige Logan's father and the richest man in the city.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **As I've said before, Paige is to me the worst character in the series but why? Well, I could list all of Paige's negative attributes like how self-centred, narcissistic, arrogant, mean spirited, stupid, shallow, attention seeking and bossy she is but if I'm gonna be honest, many of my favourite characters of all time chare these exact same traits. Characters such as Mr. Burns from** _ **The Simpsons**_ **, Uncle Ruckus from** _ **The Boondocks**_ **and Daffy Duck from** _ **Loney Tunes**_ **are good examples of mean spirited characters that still comes off as incredible funny and likable. Actually, two of my favourite sitcoms of all time is** _ **Black Adder**_ **and** _ **Black Books**_ **and they are both about egotistical and malicious protagonists. So why can't I like Paige the same way? Is it because she's a girl? I don't think so. After all, Lucile Bluth was one of the funniest characters on** _ **Arrested Development**_ **and Bitch Pudding had some of the best sketches in** _ **Robot Chicken**_ **. So what's the problem? Well first of, Paige is not funny. Funny things happen to her but she herself barely ever do or say anything funny. I can only remember laughing at Paige's actions two times which isn't saying much considering how much screen time she has. However, I think the bigger issue has to do with relatability. A big reason why the aforementioned characters work so well is because they can serve as an outlet for our more selfish desires. There is a part in all of us that wants to simple throw away social norms and just do whatever we want. Watching these kinds of characters can work as a catharsis, mostly because they seem so content in doing bad things. Paige thou, doesn't. Whenever she is mean to someone she comes across as an impulsive child that whines cause she can't get what she wants. Who can relate to that?**

 **So, how do I intend to fix this? Well, I'm gonna have Paige remain pretty much the same as she was in the show, however from now on I want Paige to be mean with leisure and content. That way she will be way more fun to write and hopefully more relatable and fun to read. I will also crank up her maliciousness to 11 so her jabs leave more of an impact. That's right, I will make Paige into a better character by making her into worse person.  
Also, it might help that I won't have her appear in every single story. For some reason the show kept putting her in episodes where she had nothing to do.**

 **Mr. Fowler's first name was never told to us in the series so I decided to name him Evan (cause it sounds a bit like avian). I also have a drawing of Mr. Fowler in his new flightsuit over at DeviantArt to give you an idea of how he looks like now.**

 **So tell me, how did you guys feel about this latest chapter? Do you like the directions I'm taking these characters? As always, all kinds of feedback is appreciated.**

 _ **See yah later, Grossologists.**_


	4. Chapter 3

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

"Ah, Grossologists. I'm grateful you could meet me on such a short notice. You probably also already know who I am but I've always felt a proper greeting is the most polite way of introducing ones self." The billionaire mused with a pleasant smile as he walked up to the three Grossologists. He reached a hand out to Ty. "I am Tony Logan and before you ask, yes, I am named after your favourite Marvel characters."

Behind his glasses, Andy's eyes grew with adoration. He liked this man already.

Ty shook the man's hand politely. "An honour meeting you Mr. Logan. We are from the bureau of Grossology. We can unfortunately not give out any of our names." To Ty, it felt a bit unnatural to act so formal. Normally, Ty would jive with a certain underlying humour in his voice. But with his more mature sister not there, Ty felt he needed to act the responsible leader in front of the less experienced Naomi and Andy.

"I understand." Tony Logan nodded and walked back to the office desk. "Let's get down to business. A few minutes ago, again, thanks for the short notice, I got this wi-fi message from my daughters cell phone." There was a flat-screen computer on the desk. He turned it around so the Grossologists could see the screen. He clicked a button on the keyboard and a video started playing. Despite the shaky (obviously cell recorded) quality, they could make out Mr. Fowler's overly large head and sour face.

"Good day to you Mr. Logan. Since you probably share your daughter's ignorance-gene, you probably don't know who I am. My name is Evan Fowler." Mr. Fowler said on the video. "You may wonder why I'm calling you on your daughter's phone. Well, she is a bit too _tied up_ to do it herself right now." The video shifted a little and Paige came into view. She was locked inside a large birdcage with her arms and feet tied up and her mouth gaged.

" _Oh god, my dream has come true…in a bad way."_ Andy whispered, with a pervy look on his face.

Naomi gave him a judgemental look that said, _'What the hell is wrong with you?'_

The video resumed focus to Mr. Fowler. "If you want your little princess back then you will hand over two million dollars to me. That should compensate for all the hardship she's put me thru."

"Um…yeah. I will have to talk to my financers about that. I'll call you back." Tony responded on the video. Mr. Fowler raised a confused eyebrow at this, right before the video ended.

Tony exchanged looks with the Grossologists. An awkward silence filled the room.

"So, you just hung up on your daughter's kidnapper? Just like that?" Naomi asked, half confused and half distraught at the same time.

"Only so I could call for your support. You people were after all responsible for capturing him the first time." Tony Logan stated.

"You did the right thing calling us, sir and don't worry. We'll think up a plan to rescue your daughter without that birdbrain seeing a single dime of those two million." Ty exclaimed.

"Terrific. I knew I made the right decision when I called you." The billionaire cheerfully mused.

Suddenly, a cell phone lying on the desk started buzzing. Logan's optimistic demeanour immediately changed and he picked up the phone. "It's him." He stated after reading of the cell phone screen.

Naomi and Andy looked at Ty, wondering what they should do. Ty thought on what they should do for a moment, clutching his chin. "You can answer him. Just make sure to not mention us and also make so we can hear what he's saying too." Ty finally said.

Tony Logan silently nodded and connected the cell phone to a speaker. Then he accepted the call. "Mr. Fowler, is that you?"

"Of course." Mr. Fowler sounded irritated.

"You shouldn't have to. I told you I'd call you back. There's no reason to concern yourself wi-

"The deal is off!" Mr. Fowler interrupted. The Grossologists and the billionaire started to get worried. "I still want money for the little brat but now I add a few conditions. You see, I just remembered that Paige isn't the only Logan that has wronged me."

"Whatever do you mean, Mr. Fowler?" Tony Logan asked. The Grossologists exchanged baffled expressions.

"Let me tell you about my childhood, Mr. Logan." Mr. Fowler replied venomously. "When I grew up, my father own a little repair shop. He would fix anything people gave him. Watches, bikes, toasters. Anything made of metal, he could fix and he let me help him. Until your company ran him out of business. With no other choice, he took a minimum wage job in one of your factories. Broken and humiliated, he turned to alcohol and I think you can guess what happened afterwards." He let the words linger in the air before speaking again. "As far as I know, working conditions within the lower casts of your organisation haven't changed much since then so, here are my new conditions. You will hand over four million dollars to me and in exchange, I'll release the brat _and_ I promise to stop with these bird attacks."

"Wait, what bird attacks?" Tony Logan asked.

"The two I elicited a few minutes ago." Mr. Fowler mused.

The Grossologists looked at each other. All of them tensed up, knowing the battle would come sooner than expected.

"As we speak, my mechanical poultry are besieging two of your most profitable enterprises." Mr. Fowler explained. "The health spa at Ringworm Centrum and Log Land."

"That amusement park!" Andy cried out, earning him a harsh *shush* from both of his teammates.

"Hopefully this will teach you and your little brat how to treat the less fortunate." Mr. Fowler spoke sadistically, stifling a chuckle.

"Okay, you've made your point very clear. Just tell me how I'll pay you the ransom?" Tony Logan asked, uncharacteristically scowling.

"Meet me at the train station in exactly four hours. You will bring the four million in cash. Also, if I see a single cop, bodyguard or Grossologist anywhere near you, my avian creations will strip your daughter's meat from her bones!" Mr. Fowler exclaimed chillingly before hanging up.

"Hello?" Logan spoke into the phone. "Huh, he hung up. Supervillainy makes people awfully rude."

"Don't worry, sir. Four hours is plenty of time for us to take care of your bird problems and then come back to save your daughter." Ty reassured him, pumping his fist in the air to show his determination.

"Thank you." Tony Logan smiled and nodded.

The three Grossologists headed out of the office and towards the Ty-Mobile that was stationed outside.

Andy nudged Ty to get his attention. "Did you see that? That guy's gonna be my father-in-law someday." Andy grinned, thumbing over his shoulder.

Ty rolled his eyes. "Riiiiiiiight…." He then pressed his fingers against the Gross-Com in his ear. "Abby, we need you down at Ringworm Centrum. Fowler have gone all _Birdemic_ on us."

* * *

The GRS-2 speeded thru the air, driven by a very unhappy Abby Archer. "I can't believe LabRat couldn't track down Paige's cell phone. I mean, it's a cell phone for Christ's sake!"

"Fowler must have done something with it. I mean, he is something of a tech genius." Chester stated. He didn't look at the redhead thou. Rather, he nervously looked down at his lap. Abby's fury made him ill at ease even thou it wasn't directed at him.

Ty Archer had brought them up to speed at what was happening and they had decided to split the team. After finding Greg a ride home, Chester and Abby was heading towards the spa at Ringworm Centrum since they were closer while Ty and the others would investigate the amusement park. "I can't help but feel like these recent bird attacks are just a distraction."

"Maybe but even so, it's not like we can ignore them." Chester responded, carefully gazing at his teammate. First now, noticing the glace in her eyes, did he realize she was not only angry. She was sad. "Abby…is something wrong?" He asked carefully. While he cared for her, he didn't necessarily want to pry into her affairs.

Abby was silent for a moment before answering. "Earlier today I wished Paige would disappear."

Chester blinked. He was surprised such a compassionate girl like Abby could have such malice wishes.

At that moment, Kid Rot appeared next to him. _"Oh, I like this side of her. Not much different from what we wish for the people who's tormented us."_

Chester scowled for a minute but then ignored Kid Rot. "Abby, this isn't your fault. Believe me, wishes don't come true like that."

"I know but…" Abby trailed off, not really knowing how to explain her feelings.

"Listen, you had nothing to do with this. This is all due to Fowler's mental issues," He paused for an awkward moment, "and maybe because of Paige." He sighed. "You're not the only one who has wished for a person like her to disappear." Chester thought back to when he accidentally rotted Kent's clothes first day he came to Ringworm.

Kid Rot chuckled impishly.

"Yeah, maybe the world would be better off without people like her but we are heroes, we can't choose who we save." Abby said, finally cracking a small smile.

Chester smiled a bit as well. "Besides, if we failed to save anyone we would certainly regret it for the rest of our lives. Even if that person happened to be Paige."

Abby nodded. Happier and reinvigorated, ready for anything.

Then Kid Rot shouted, _"Let her die!"_

* * *

The GRS-2 touched down in Ringworm Centrum and Abby and Chester stepped out of the vehicle. In front of them was the health spa. Terrified guests and personnel alike ran out of the spa (some wearing nothing but bath towels), fleeing a brownish gas that was leaking out of the building. The cops had blockaded the spa and paramedics were taking care of the people coming out.

The Detective saw the newly arrived Grossologists and walked up to them. "Grossologists, what a coincidence. I was just about to call you."

"We're on top of things Detetctive and we know who's behind this." Abby stated, placing her hands on her hips. "Mr. Fowler."

The Detective raised an eyebrow. "That old man that thought he was an owl? Doesn't seem like it."

Abby blinked. "Why?"

"That spa is reeking with some kind of disgusting gas. Tried to send some of my guys in there but they can't get in there." The Detective explained.

"Our eyes watered." A squeaky voiced cop whined in the background, swiping a tear from his eye.

"You're right. Smelly gases is more of Fartor's territory. Still, we're ready for anything." Abby exclaimed before turning to her partner. "Chester, bring out the gasmasks. We're going in."

* * *

The doors slammed open and Abby and Chester stepped inside the spa, wearing gasmasks over their faces. The moment they got inside they noticed the entire floor being covered in the brown smoke.

In the air above was a flock of birds. The birds had all huge crests of feathers atop their heads, their plumage were a blend of orange and creamy brown while their wings had stripes of black and white. Their beaks were long and thin. The only thing that gave away their robotic nature were the metallic cannons that protruded from underneath their tail feathers. On occasion, one or two of them would fire column-shaped projectiles of compact dung out of their cannons. Once they impacted the floor or the furniture, they exploded and released even more of the noxious gas.

"Those look like Hoopoe birds." Chester exclaimed.

"Hoopoe? Not even I have heard of those before." Abby stated.

"It's a sort of bird, native to Africa and Eurasia. The chicks defend themselves by shooting their faeces at predators. They even roll around in the dung to mask their scent."

"Well, in that case it's about time for these chicks to grow the hell up!" Abby exclaimed as she aimed her goopshooter at one of the hoopoes. She held in the trigger for a few seconds before firing, pasting the bird to the wall with a large blast of goo.

Another hoopoe noticed the Grossologists and flew up to them. It hovered in the air in front of them and readjusted its cannon, aiming it at Chester and fired its dungy projectile at him. Chester quickly raised his hand and fired a burst of rot-energy, disintegrating the incoming projectile. The blonde boy smirked. "The birds may be mechanical but their faeces are still organic."

Abby fired at the hoopoe but the robotic bird dodged the goo and flew off. Abby ran after it. "We'll split up. We can cover more ground that way."

"Abby wait! I don't-

Chester called out but Abby didn't hear him. She had already run off. _'The faster we finish up here, the faster we can get to rescuing Paige.'_ Abby thought to herself as she chased after the hoopoe.

The female Grossologists chased the mechanical bird into another room. The floor of this one was also covered by thick smoke. With no way to run, the hoopoe started flying around in circles. Abby ran closer to her target, lining up her goopshooter when suddenly, "Whoa!"

She fell and landed in a deep, thick viscous. After tiresomely raising herself onto her feet, she realized she had accidentally fallen into a pool of mud. _'This must be the spa's mud bath.'_ She thought when a much more pressing matter came to mind. "Oh no, where's my goopshooter!" Abby exclaimed worried and started rummaging thru the mud after her missing weapon.

She heard a chirp and looked up, seeing the hoopoe hovering above her as it aimed its poop-cannon at her. Abby held up her palms defensively and slowly backed away, even thou in her current situation there was no way she could actually avoid it in time. The hoopoe fired its cannon and Abby instinctively closed her eyes as the projectile came at her.

In the last second, Chester rushed into the room and fired his rot-energy at the guano, disintegrating it. In that moment Abby felt her goopshooter poking her in the leg. Without hesitation, she pulled it out of the mud and fired at the hoopoe. It was a direct hit! With its wings all gooped up, the robotic bird couldn't fly anymore and crashed to the floor.

"Sorry for disobeying orders, Abby but I thought this was too much for me to handle alone so I went back for you." Chester said.

"Oh no, don't apologize for goodness sake." Abby exclaimed as she pulled herself out of the mud bath, lower half of her body now coloured brown. "If you hadn't disobeyed me I would have been creamed right now. Besides, maybe you have a point. While it would go faster to split up, it would also leave us more vulnerable. Better do it properly than quickly as my mom would say."

Chester smiled. Happy with his contribution to the mission. "Alright then." He ignited his fists with rot-energy. "You'll be our offence and I'll be our defence."

Abby smirked. "You'll be my shield and I'll be your spear."

* * *

Abby and Chester rushed into the gym portion of the spa. There was an entire flock of hoopoe there, flying around and firing their faecal-projectiles at various exercise equipment. Once their sensors noticed the Grossologists' presence, they swarmed them. A few fired their cannons at the duo but Chester stepped in front of his partner and disintegrated the projectiles, leaving Abby an opening to fire her goopshooter at the hoopoes.

And so it continued. Chester would rot the enemies' weapons and Abby would neutralize them with her goo. Despite her guilt, despite her stress, Abby couldn't help but smile. _'Chester and I sure make a great team.'_ She thought as her goopshooter laid waste to another hoopoe. _'No worries, Paige. As soon as we're done here, we'll be coming for you.'_

* * *

 _20 minutes earlier, in Tony Logan's office._

Tony Logan watched out thru his wall-sized office windows. With a grim expression on his face, he saw the Ty-Mobile fly off. "What a peculiar looking vehicle." He commented to himself.

His cell phone rang. When he picked it up, he noticed it was from Paige's cell phone, meaning it must be Mr. Fowler again. "Hello? Is it you, Fowler?"

"That's Mr. Fowler to you!" The old inventor growled.

"Right, Mr. Fowler. Anything I can help you with?"

"I know you are alone now since the Grossologists have left to coop."

Tony's eyes widen in surprise but he quickly retook his calm composure. "I don't know what you mean."

"Look out your window again. Seeing anything _fowl_?"

Annoyed, Tony Logan turned around and looked out the windows again. At first he saw nothing out of ordinary but once he squinted a bit, he saw a flying crow with a large, unnatural red eye. A camera no doubt.

He sighed. "Alright Mr. Fowler, I admit. The Grossologists were here but now they're not so we can be honest with each other."

"Honest indeed. I knew the Grossologists were with you and even if they weren't, I suspected them to put their noses where they don't belong. They always do. So I initiated those two bird attacks against your company to keep them busy." Mr. Fowler explained. "Of course, you now have to understand that our previous deal is no longer in affect."

"Yes, I understand. So where do you want us to meet for the exchange?" Tony Logan asked.

"There's an abandoned barn at the eastern outskirt of the city a top a large hill. Be there in half an hour with the four million dollars and you'll get your daughter back. And remember, I have a hawk's eye view of you, Mister Logan. If I see you with anyone, your precious Paige will be bird food." Mr. Fowler threatened before hanging up.

Tony Logan cupped his hands behind his back and sighed. "Today is turning into very busy day."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Can you tell how much I love writing Abby and Chester together? They just have this very natural chemistry that makes the story flow so smoothly. Not only do they have this adorable comradery but they have great synergy on the field as well. Can't wait to get more opportunities to write them.**

 **I honestly had no idea what a Hoopoe was until I did some research about bizarre bird behaviour specifically for this story. When I found out what it was, I knew I had to include it in my fanfic. A bird that shoots poop at its predators! That belongs in Grossology.**

 **Next chapter will be with Ty, Andy and Naomi and after that we should only have one full chapter left as well as the epilogue.**

 **As always, any feedback you can give me is highly appreciated.**

 _ **Until next time Grossologists.**_


	5. Chapter 4

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Mr. Fowler turned off the phone after finishing his conversation with Mr. Logan, feeling pleased over getting his word in. "You hear that, Paige?" Mr. Fowler swirled around, eyeing his captive. "Your dear old Daddy is going to pay four million dollars to have you back. That certainly beats an old's custodian sallary." He slipped off his chair and started slowly walking towards her. "I guess some people will always be wanted no matter how repulsive."

Paige was no longer in a birdcage. Now she was on some kind of broad, metallic platform. Her mouth and limbs were still tied. The blonde girl mumbled something thru her gag.

"What's that? Does my little cage bird want to sing a song?" Mr. Fowler mused mockingly as he came up to her. He loosened rag that was tied around her mouth, letting it fall to her chest.

Paige gasped for air. Then, she lunged forward and bit down on Mr. Fowler's beak-like nose.

The avian villain stumbled backwards, clutching his nose in pain. "Ouch, ouch!" He rubbed the injured area that had become red. The girl's teeth had failed at drawing blood thou. Only bite-marks indentured in the skin.

"Untie me you weird bird-freak and leave me alone!" Paige shouted. "You have no right to my daddy's money! Only I have right to my daddy's money!"

Mr. Fowler growled. "Do not speak to me like that, you little brat. I am not some lowly janitor you can harass anymore. I am a full-fledged supervillain now." He spread his artificial wings in a threatening pose. "And I am only one of the multiple of people's who's lives you've sullied with your horrid behaviour."

Paige simple huffed and stuck her nose in the air. "Not my fault if they're so weak they can't handle it when I'm telling them the truth." She glared at her kidnapper. "Besides, you're the only one I know of that's gone completely looney from my innocent little teasing."

"You haven't changed. You're still a selfish brat." Mr. Fowler snarled.

"Oh, really? Well, unlike _some_ people I actually have friends so clearly I'm can't be so bad." Paige argued.

"Friends?" The old man spat. "I have spied on you for months and from what I've seen you surely don't treat them as friends. All you ever do is make them run your errands, do your dirty work and take out your frustration on them whenever you feel like it. They aren't friends. They are sycophants."

"Well, I may not know what a _cyclo-fan_ is but I do know that tomorrow I'd be back in my mansion with servants giving me and my billionaire dad croissants and cafe latte for breakfast while you be on the run with no more than four million dollars. That's pennies for me and my dad so, _ha_!" She rattled a bit in her binds. "If I weren't tied up, this would be the moment I'd flip you off."

Mr. Fowler frowned but then casually walked over to a basket of apples by the wall, humming a tune on his way. He picked up a red apple, squeezing it a bit to make sure it was ripe. He then strolled back to Paige. "You are wrong about one thing my dear." He then shoved the apple into her mouth. "You will never return to your mansion."

He then ignored her and started tinkering with a large box-shaped machine. All while humming his lullaby. _"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird…"_

* * *

Meanwhile at Log Land.

Ringworm's log-themed amusement park was usually filled with screams of excitement from happy customers taking the expeditious carnival rides but not today. Today, the screams were that of terror as people of all ages and occupations fled the scene.

Huge seabirds with white and grey feathers swooped down on the amusement park and fired greasy vomit out of their beaks. Any unfortunate person that got stuck in the projectile vomiting was glued to the ground and any ride that was hit by it would stop in its track.

Carried by its insect-like wings, the Ty-Mobile approached the amusement park. Ty was piloting from the front seat, Naomi sat in the middle and Andy sat in the back.

"What's going on down there?" Naomi asked.

"Not sure. Luckily, we recently installed the Ty-Mobile with high-resolution cameras." Ty stated and pushed a button on the control board. A holographic video-fee showed up in front of him. "Those look like fulmars but according to the sensors they're much bigger than natural fulmars and they're made of metal. Definitely Mr. Fowler's doing."

"Their behaviour fits in too. Fulmars are known for projectile vomiting at their enemies." Andy stated.

"Projectile vomiting? Is that stuff dangerous?" Naomi asked, slightly nauseated.

"Nah, the vomit is mostly made of digested fish and squid. It's sticky and smelly but as long as the Ty-Mobile's wings doesn't get hit we should be fine in here." Ty explained.

As if on que, one robotic fulmar swopped down from behind and projectile vomited onto the Ty-Mobile's roof. The four wings that kept the vehicle airborne were unable to flap anymore as they were clogged together.

"Um, you were saying?" Andy commented sarcastically right before the Ty-Mobile hurled towards the ground.

"Ty! Do something!" Naomi shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I'll try!" Ty shouted back as the ground came closer and closer. He tugged the controls towards his abdomen and the vehicle reared itself up. Once Ty judged the ground was close enough, he activated the Ty-Mobile's grasshopper-like hind legs and the vehicle sprinted against the pavement. While this manoeuvre was enough to avoid a devastating crash it wasn't enough to save their transport. The Ty-Mobile's hood smashed against the pavement and the vehicle skidded across the ground before colliding with a merry-go-round.

Ty sighed groggily as he opened up the cockpit. "Everyone alright?" He asked as he stepped out of the vehicle.

"I'm fine. How about you, Naomi?" Andy exclaimed as he slipped onto the ground.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied while rubbing the side of her head. She then jumped out of the vehicle. "Ty, that was great. Impressive piloting." She said with a genuine smile directed towards the spikey haired boy.

Ty blushed and rubbed his neck, trying to look modest. "No biggie. I was just improvising."

"Um, guys? Seabird at twelve o'clock!" Andy exclaimed, pointing at the sky. A mechanical fulmar was indeed swooping down towards them. It opened its beak and fired at the Grossologists.

Ty swiftly picked up Naomi (bridle style) and flew off with his jetpack while Andy used his hover-boots to fly off in the opposite direction, both avoiding the blast of vomit right before it struck.

Two fulmars started chasing after Ty as he was still flying with Naomi. One after another, they fired at him but he managed to dodge their projectile vomit.

"Ty, you can't fire back if you keep holding me and I am not very good with a goopshooter. You have to find somewhere to put me down." Naomi reasoned. While he didn't say anything, Ty agreed with her.

He headed towards a large rollercoaster, _The Timber Express_ as Ty recalled. Once they were upon it, Naomi safely slipped out of her boyfriend's arms, onto the rollercoaster tracks and drew her retractable Gagstaff out of her belt. She was prepared to fight if so needed.

Ty turned to face their pursuers and slapped his goopshooter onto his arm. "Alright, birdbrains. Let's dogfight." He zoomed right at the robotic seabirds. The fulmars immediately started firing at him but Ty easily dodged every single projectile coming towards him. He then flew right past them, right between their wings. In order to keep chasing their target, the fulmars turned around and flew after the boy.

"Hmm, you're leading them away from me, eh." Naomi said to herself, feeling a sense of admiration for her teammate.

Suddenly, a stream of projectile vomiting came at Naomi from behind. With catlike reflexes, Naomi avoided the blast by jolting to the side, spun in mid-air and faced her attacker. It was yet another fulmar coming towards her.

The robotic bird fired at her again. Naomi rotated her gag-staff like a helicopter blade and deflected the projectile vomiting. "Works like a charm." _'Thank you, LabRat.'_ She thought to herself.

As the fulmar kept coming closer, it fired yet another stream of projectile vomiting right at the Grossologists. Naomi deflected it again but this time, the force of the impact caused her to take a step back and accidentally slip on some vomit left from the previous assault.

She fell over the edge and started hurling towards the ground, 230 feet below. In the midst of her horrified screaming, Naomi got an idea. She took a new hold of her Gagstaff and its clawed end clutched onto one of the rollercoaster's steel beams. This halted her fall but it left her hanging like a pinecone, 82 feet above the ground.

"And I thought riding on top of this thing was scary." Naomi sighed sarcastically.

That was when she saw the attacking fulmar coming towards her yet again. It flew right at her as if intended to ram the poor girl. Naomi showed fear for just a second but then she scowled with determinism.

As the bird came towards her, she started to swing her body like a pendulum. The fulmar opened its beak and projectile vomited at its target. Using the momentum she built up, Naomi launched herself into the air above as the projectile vomiting past by her below. As she started to descend, the fulmar past underneath her and she landed atop its back.

The robot may have been larger than a normal fulmar but it was definitely not large enough to carry a human being on its back (even a lightweight human like Naomi). With the extra weight, it started losing altitude and balance.

Naomi straddled the robotic bird's wings, grabbed onto their tips and started to bend them upwards. The bird lost more and more latitude by the second while only remaining a small sense of balance. Once the robot was less than nine feet above the ground, Naomi stood up and leaped off the fulmar's back. She landed elegantly like the acrobat she was while the crippled seabird crashed into a fence and shut off.

Naomi sighed tiered but then smiled to herself. "If only Ty could have seen that."

* * *

Ty kept being chased thru the sky by the two fulmars. One of them projectile vomited at the Grossologist but he managed to dodge it. Ty fired back with his goopshooter but the fulmars side-lined the incoming goo. "Darn it. How am I supposed to take down two birds with one stone?"

That was when Ty saw something down below which gave him an idea. It was one of those pendulum rides and as you may have guessed, it was shaped like a huge log. The ride's conductor must have left in a hurry cause it was still active, swaying from one side to the other, remaining at each far end for a few seconds before swaying to the other.

Ty smirked, made a U-turn and dove down towards the aforementioned ride. The fulmars closed in on Ty but it was exactly what he wanted. He wanted them to get close. He bit his lip as he neared the pendulum ride. _'I need to time this just right.'_

As the log-shaped gondola swayed to its left, Ty flew right past it. When the robotic fulmars tried following the same path as their target, the gondola swayed to the right and rammed the two flying machines with enough force to reduce them to scrap metal.

Ty deactivated his jetpack and landed. He turned around to look at the burned remains of the robots. It made him smile. "Apparently you can't hit two birds with one stone. You have to use a log."

* * *

Andy kept fleeing the fulmar that was chasing him thru the amusement rides and carnival games. His boots weren't as fast as Ty's jetpack nor did they allow him to fly as high so he had to rely on his mobility to avoid the blasts of bird vomit, which wasn't the fat little boy's forte either.

Andy then saw something familiar. A shooting game called _Circus Bear Logrolling._ The goal of the game was to shoot down the targets as they appeared. The targets being shaped like circus bears on top of floating logs. Andy got a bad taste in his mouth as he remembered trying to win the games price (a pink teddy bear) for his crush, Paige to no avail. However, the game gave him an idea.

The brunette boy headed towards the carnival game, nearly being hit by the fulmar's projectile vomit but managed to avoid it. As he flew over the counter, he slapped a button which turned on the game. The game consisted of two rows with four targets on each. Andy quickly scurried behind one of these rows.

The giant fulmar landed in front of the shooting game. Its wingspan was too big to get inside the shooting gallery so instead it simple stationed itself in front of the counter. Its camera-eyes scanned the shooting gallery, awaiting any movement to fire at.

"Ohoh!" Andy popped his head up and the fulmar projectile vomited but the Grossologists quickly hide himself again. One of the game's targets popped up and the bird fired at it and hit it but it hardly mattered. "Ohoh!" Andy's head popped up again and once again the bird's projectile vomit missed him. Another circus bear-target popped up and the bird fired his vomit at it.

Things continued like this for five minutes. Andy and the game targets kept popping up and the mechanical bird kept projectile vomiting at them over and over again until finally…no more came out.

The fulmar opened its beak but no vomit came out. It closed it and tried again but nothing came. It was out of sauce.

"Out of ammo, eh? Just as planned." Andy said as he treaded his Goopshooter over his arm and aimed it at the robotic bird. His first two shots hit the fulmar's feet, gluing them to the ground. His third shot clogged its beak. Finally, Andy held in the trigger for a few seconds before firing a huge projectile of goo at the fulmar, covering its wings in sticky slime. It was now completely immobilized.

Andy ran out of the shooting gallery, energetically leaping over the counter. As he approached the robot, it rustled a bit in its sticky bindings. "Now, now, don't be a sore loser, pretty bird." Andy said as he whipped out a small drilling-tool from his belt. One thing he'd noticed about the bird was a small hatchet atop of its head. Using the drill, he carefully opened up its metallic cranium. Once it was open, he smiled at what he discovered.

Andy fingered the Gross-Com in his ear. "Ty, are you there, bro?"

"Yes Andy, I am here." Ty's voice came thru the earpiece. "Me and Naomi just cleared up our bird-problems. Do you need any help?"

"Nah, I took down my fulmar too but I think we should rondevu at the Ty-Mobile." Andy exclaimed. "I think I have a way to locate Mr. Fowler."

* * *

A few minutes later.

Ty and Naomi were back by the Ty-Mobile which was still greased up by the fulmar vomit. Ty were in the piloting seat, trying in vain to start up the vehicle. He stomped on the gas-pedal and growled in annoyance when the machine refused to start. "Nope, this thing won't move any time soon."

"Then we would have to call LabRat and see if he can send us another ride." Naomi sighed.

"Maybe, just maybe we could repair the Ty-Mobile's engine and legs. Although that would take a while." Ty stated as he slipped out of the vehicle. "The wings thou, we won't be able to fix till we get back to the Gaglab."

That was when Andy showed up. "Hey guys."

"Yo, Andy. You alright, buddy?" Ty asked, feeling a tad guilty for leaving without making sure he was okay.

"Yeah, I'm good. I also managed to snag this from the robot I took down." Andy replied and held up an electronic box for his teammate's to see.

Naomi tilted her head a bit. "What is it?"

"It's a signal receiver. Apparently Mr. Fowler wants to keep track of his creations. Typical inventors."

Ty smirked as rubbed his index against his chin. "I see what you're getting at, Andy. You're going to reprogram the receiver so we can track the signal back to him. Smart."

"Actually, I've already done that with my GrossWatch." Andy replied happily and pointed at the GrossWatch on his wrist. "LabRat is tracking the radio signal as we speak."

That was when everyone's GrossWatches started buzzing.

"Speak of the devil." Andy said and clicked on the watch's answering button.

The GrossWatch projected a small hologram of LabRat. "Andy, I'm done tracking the signal and you won't believe this but it's coming from your school."

Everyone were taken aback by the news. "What? Are you sure?" Naomi asked.

Ty face palmed. "Seriously, how many bad guys are obsessed with that place?"

"We have to go there. It's our best shot at finding Paige." Andy stated.

"Easier said than done." Naomi said, downtrodden as she gazed at their damaged transport. "The Ty-Mobile won't move anywhere until it gets repaired."

"I call Abby and tell her about this." Ty exclaimed.

"Good and I'll call Logan and tell him we have a lead on Mr. Fowler. See yah." LabRat said right before his hologram vanished.

* * *

Meanwhile, Abby and Chester exited the health spa and were greeted by The Detective.

"Our job's done, Detective. All of Mr. Fowler's robot birds have been taken care of. All that remains now is vacuuming the gas out of the place." Abby stated.

"Good job, Grossologists. Um, why is half of you brown and why is his hair so shiny?" The Detective pointed out.

Abby's legs were still covered in mud from earlier while Chester's hair indeed looked very different from when he walked in. It was shimmering, wet and with no bangs covering his face. "I happen to fall into a mud bath. As for Chester, one of the birds accidentally knocked a bottle of hair gel over his head." Abby explained.

Chester blushed and covered his face with his hands. "It's horrible. Without my bangs, people will see how ugly my face is. I just want to go home and wash the gel out of my hair."

Abby stifled a chuckle. "You sure? Cause you actually look better like that."

"True, it's the first time I haven't mistaken you for a pothead." The Detective said.

Chester hung his head and sighed. "You are both just teasing me."

" _Abby-Abby are you there? Abby?"_ Abby heard her brother's voice coming from her Gross-com.

Abby pressed her fingers to the earpiece. "Yes Ty, I am here."

" _Are you done at the spa?"_ Ty asked.

"We just finished up. How so?"

" _We just figured out where Mr. Fowler are?"_ Ty replied. _"He's at our school."_

Abby blinked. "Seriously?"

" _Seriously. Andy and LabRat tracked a radio signal coming from one of his robots."_

"I guess it makes sense. That school is where he suffered his mental breakdown." Abby rationalized. "You think Paige is there as well?"

" _Most likely. The problem is that we can't get there right now. Our vehicle was damaged so we'll need some time to repair."_ Ty exclaimed.

"That's fine. Me and Chester can go ahead of you in the GRS-2."

* * *

Ty groaned a little, not really liking the idea. "Hmm, fine. Just promise me you won't do anything too dangerous on your own. I only have one sister, you know."

" _Don't worry. We'll be careful. I'll call you later little brother."_ Abby talked cheerfully thru the Gross-Com before hanging up.

Ty then looked at his teammates. "So, wanna play rock, paper, scissors to decide who'll repair the damages and who's gonna scrape the seabird vomit off the Ty-Mobil?"

Before they could answer, their GrossWatches started buzzing again. Ty clicked the answering button and the hologram of LabRat showed up again.

"Ty, we have a problem?"

"What is it LabRat?"

"Well, I called Mr. Logan's office but his bodyguard told me he was out."

"Wait, he doesn't have his bodyguards with him?" Andy asked puzzled.

"Exactly." LabRat said. "Guys…I think Mr. Fowler has deceived us."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the Grossologists, Tony Logan were already at the barn where Mr. Fowler had told him to be. The sky darkened as the sun descended in the west. His left hand rested in his pocket while his right hand clutched onto a steel briefcase containing the money Fowler demanded.

"You would think a man dabbling in such serious business as kidnapping would be more punctual." He lamented offhandedly to himself while impatiently tapping his foot.

Then, without making a single noise, a huge silhouette swooped down from the sky and pinned the billionaire to the ground with its mechanical talons. It was a giant barn owl, just like the one Mr. Fowler built two years ago. Tony grunted as he tried to squirm free but the robotic predator just pressed him harder against the ground. Its beak clamped down on the briefcase before swallowing it. The owl then let go of Logan and sprinted into the air.

Logan got back onto his feet. He dusted himself off while watching the last hope for his daughter's return disappear into the sunset.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **If this was picked up by Nickelodeon, I would want the log-song from** _ **The Ren & Stimpy Show **_**to be the official theme tune of Log Land, lol.**

 **I'm still working on a good balance for Naomi's & Ty's relationship. On one hand I don't want to make Naomi some needy damsel in distress (although she admittedly plays that role really well) but on the other hand she is still a newbie so Ty still needs to look after her. Hopefully I'm able to give her the right amount of independence while also needing some help.**

 **I think splitting the team up like this makes sense. Abby & Chester have about the same school schedule and teens often associate with those of the same age anyway. Naomi & Andy has of course had bonds with Ty since long before so of course they're gonna look to him more than anyone else. And sad LabRat only has bonds with Ty & Abby so he's probably a bit jealous right now. Promise to give him so time with the others later. ;-)**

 **I'm enjoying writing Paige's father. I took inspiration from David Xanatos (** _ **Gargoyles**_ **) when imagining his devil-may-care attitude. Hope you guys like him too.**

 **As always, thank you guys for reading and I please give me some feedback.**

 _ **See you next time, Grossologists!**_


	6. Chapter 5

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Chapter 5:**

"You know, thanks to this job I feel like I spend more off-hours in school than any other student." Abby stated as she carefully landed the GRS-2 by the school premises. The sun had recently gone down and it has gotten dark.

The two Grossologists got out of the vehicle. "So what are we gonna do? Break in and look for Paige, room by room?" Chester asked.

"Not yet. I don't want risk getting corned in a trap or something." Abby replied. "Let's stake out the schoolyard first. Check all the entrances and windows." Chester simple nodded to her suggestion before the two ran (quietly) into action.

* * *

"I don't see anything in the biology room." Chester stated after peering thru a window.

"Nothing in our homeroom either." Abby said while looking thru the window a few feet away. "Wait, do you hear that?" She asked, cupping her ear.

Chester shook his head. "I don't hear anything."

"It's coming from the cafeteria." Abby ran towards the school cafeteria while Chester followed close behind.

As they approached the cafeteria, Abby saw something thru the windows which made her gasp. "Get down!" She clutched Chester's neck as the two got into a crouching position underneath the window frames.

" _What?"_ Chester whispered.

Slowly, the two reached their necks over the window frames, peering into the cafeteria. There, behind the counter, they could spot the small form of Mr. Fowler. He seemed to work on something with his hands while humming a tune to himself. "Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't song, Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring…"

" _That's definitely Mr. Fowler."_ Abby exclaimed.

" _Alright, I could phase thru the wall and beat him up."_ Chester exclaimed.

" _I don't want us split-up just yet. Besides, if he got any robots with him your rot-powers may not be of any use."_ Abby stated.

Chester gazed at her. _"So what do you suggest we do?"_

That was when a white feather dwindled carelessly down in the space between them. The two Grossologists' eyes followed the little feather till it landed on the ground. They then looked up and was meet by the gaze of two giant red eyes. It was the enormous barn owl, perching on the edge of the roof as it looked down on them as if they were a pair of delicious white mice.

For a moment, they were both frozen with fear. Abby then quickly pulled her goopshooter at the robotic animal. "Chester, run!" But it was too late. The giant barn owl swooped down from the roof and its powerful talons clutched onto their bodies, pinching them to the ground.

Abby and Chester squirmed but the owl had them in a vice like grip no one could get out of. "You know, in hindsight maybe we would have been safer inside the school." Chester commented.

"Thanks for the salt, Chester. My wound really needed that." Abby sarcastically sighed.

* * *

A few minutes later.

Abby and Chester had been put in a large birdcage atop a table in the school kitchen. Even thou it was large enough to house both of them there was no room to move and Abby's body squeezing against him made Chester feel flustered.

In front of them they could see Paige. The apple in her mouth prevented her from talking and a blindfold prevented her from seeing anything. Unlike them, her arms and legs were tied up.

"Is that you, Paige Logan?" Abby called out to her.

The gagged girl desperately mumbled something.

"Don't worry. We're here to save you."

Paige mumbled something again.

" _Can't believe this is the nicest moment I've ever had with her."_ Abby sighed to herself before turning to her teammate. _"Chester, can you phase thru these bars?"_

" _I could but we are too close to each other. If I activate my powers in here I might rot you too."_ Chester replied.

" _But don't you remember, we switched to non-degradable slimesuits. My body is safe."_ Abby exclaimed, sounding slightly annoyed.

" _What about your head?"_ Chester asked.

" _At this position, only my hair would be damaged."_

Chester scowled and shook his head. He didn't like this. It was like Abby had forgotten how dangerous his powers were. It was a bit understandable since Paige was right in front of them but still. _"No! Unless you can make one hundred percent sure I'm not touching you, I won't do it! It's too risky."_

Mr. Fowler walked into the kitchen, sporting his owl-inspired flight suit. "So the Grossologists came snooping after all. Luckily I positioned my barn owl outside to look out for intruders. Owls are great at ambushing, you know."

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Wish I was happy to see you, Mr. Fowler. What's with the new look?"

Mr. Fowler stretched out his arms, showing off his artificial wings. "This is my new flight-suit. It allows me to fly while these hydraulic talons on my boots gives me the power to pierce thru anything and this helmet allows me to see in the dark."

"Well, you may have taken this entire owl-thing a bit too far but you actually look kind of cool." Abby commented.

Mr. Fowler smiled and bowed his head in gratitude. "Thank you."

"But I am still very disappointed in you." Abby proclaimed. "You were always unstable but now you are just plain evil!"

"No! I am better than I was before. Never again will anyone step on me! Behold…" Mr. Fowler flipped a switch on the wall and the lights turned on.

Abby and Chester could now see what was in front of them. It wasn't just any metal plate that Paige were sitting on, it was a pie plate. The pie plate was on a conveyer belt, leading to giant oven. "You are turning her into a pie?" Abby gasped.

"Exactly." Mr. Fowler said and started kneading a huge ball of dough. He then flatten it with a rolling pin till it became a wide pie crust. All while humming the same song. "Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird…"

"This is the exact same thing you did to the pigeons last time."

"Yes, but this time I do it to the person who actually deserve it. Her!" Fowler mused and tossed the crust over Paige.

Paige mumbled in protest as she wiggled underneath the sheet of dough.

"Fowler, don't do this! I know Paige can be a real pain but she shouldn't die for it." Abby desperately pleaded. "I may not understand your circumstances or your lust for revenge but I-

"But I understand!" Chester interrupted, causing both Abby and Fowler to stare at him. "Mr. Fowler, before I became a Grossologist I was all alone. I had no friends, no parents and was bullied every day. I have suffered from depression, social anxiety and multiple personality-disorder."

The hallucination of Kid Rot showed up, sporting a sadistic smile. _"Don't forget schizophrenia and dementia."_

Chester frowned but decided to ignore Kid Rot. "I know what it's like when you know something is wrong with you and how frustrating it is when you're trying to improve yet unsympathetic people like Paige just keeps making it worse for you. It's disheartening. It makes you feel like the entire world is against you."

Mr. Fowler's eyes widen, glistening. "So you know? You know she has to pay!"

"No!" Chester snapped. "I'm not gonna pretend like Paige is blameless but you must take responsibility for your actions. Paige may have wronged you but you can still choose what to do about it."

"But I am taking responsibility. What I'm doing is justice!" Fowler angrily argued. "I am not just hurting her but also her family's unfair business!"

"No, you haven't hurt Logan's business at all because he is insured." Abby responded, shaking her head. "The only people you've hurt are the underpaid workers that has to clean up the mess."

Fowler's frown deepened. "I don't care what you two say. She ruined my life and she has to pay!" He grabbed onto a lever attached to the oven, a pair of tears ran down his eyes.

"Ruin a life is quite different from ending a life, Fowler." Abby reasoned, trying calm the man down. "Listen to us, there is still a chance for you to get your life back. So far, all you're guilty of is kidnapping and sabotage. Considering your mental issues, the judges will probably go easy on you but if you kill Paige then there's no going back for you. So please, don't do it."

Mr. Fowler's body was shaking, a cold drop of sweat ran down his forehead as he gripped harder onto the lever. "I-I-I have to stand up for myself!" He yelled and forced the lever to the floor. The conveyer belt activated and started bringing Paige towards the open oven which was already red hot.

"No!" Chester shouted.

"Chester, I got a plan. Once I'm fat enough, phase thru the bars." Abby exclaimed.

"Fat enough? What are you talking about?" Chester asked puzzled.

Abby clicked a button on her belt and her slimesuit started inflating like a ballon.

"Oh, right. I forgot we could do that." Chester said. Abby's suit was now so big it was now squeezing both her and Chester against the metal bars. While painful, Chester was thankful (for several reasons) that he wasn't touching any of her skin anymore. He activated his powers and tumbled out of the cage, onto the floor below and accidentally knocked over a basket of apples. "Ouch."

"What the hell? How did you do that?" Mr. Fowler asked shocked.

Chester rubbed his sore head while rising onto his feet. "Let's just say that some of my suffering were more genetic than mental."

Mr. Fowler activated his jetpack and flew into the air. "I won't let you stop me!" He charged right at the blond Grossologist, his hydraulic talons reaching for him.

Thinking quickly, Chester picked up one of the apples scattered on the floor. He decomposed it till it got brown and soft. He then threw it as hard as he could right at Mr. Fowler's face.

"Yuck! What is this?" The avian villain lost control and crashed into a counter.

Chester then ran as fast as he could towards the oven and threw himself at the lever. He pulled the lever which turned off the conveyer belt mere inches before Paige reached the oven.

The girl mumbled something and turned her head, trying to concern what was going on.

Chester then ran back to the birdcage and opened it for Abby (who had luckily already deflated). The redhead got out thru the small cage one leg at a time. "Good going, Chester." She congratulated her friend.

Mr. Fowler sat up and shook his head, his head still aching from the fall. When he saw the Grossologists walk over to his Paige pie, he could feel himself fill with rage. "No, don't save her!" He flew into the air once again. "My vengeance is all I have!" He cried out as he swooped towards them.

Abby grabbed onto the pie crust that was covering Paige and threw it into the air. Mr. Fowler flew right into the doughy sheet which immediately enwrapped him. He crashed into a wall and lost consciousness.

Abby then walked up to Paige. "Don't worry Miss Logan, you're safe now." She removed the apple from the other girl's mouth.

"What took you so long?" Paige snapped. "And take this darn blindfold of me."

Abby frowned, suddenly remembering why she couldn't stand her. "As you wish, miss."

"Wait!" Paige exclaimed before Abby could take off the blindfold. "Is my hair burnt?"

Abby smirked. "Yes, it is." It was a lie but Abby felt miscevious.

"Okay, then don't take off my blindfold. I don't want to see how terrible my hair is. Take me to my barber immediately!"

Abby and Chester let out a unified sigh.

* * *

Three days later, Monday…

Abby and Chester had lunch together in the school cafeteria. Chester didn't eat much thou. He just absentmindedly rummaged around in his mystery stew with his fork. A sad look graced his face.

"You know, no matter what's in that stew it can't be worse than Paige pie." Abby joked, trying to cheer him up but it didn't work. Chester just kept circling his fork. "You still thinking about Fowler?"

He stopped moving his fork. "Yeah. For a second I thought I'd gotten thru to him but in the end he went thru with it anyway."

Abby was silent for a moment before saying something. "Well, I am at least proud of you. I don't think neither Ty nor me has ever tried talking one of our enemies into submission. Well, except for trying to cringe them to death with bad jokes."

Chester managed to smile a little bit. "I think that's cause you and Ty are at your core good people. I am not so good which is why I relate to someone like Mr. Fowler. I just wish he can get the help he needs at Splatticus."

Abby frowned. She couldn't understand how after everything he's done, after saving two lives, he could still look down on himself.

Talking about people he saved, Greg came up to their table. "Hey guys."

"Hey." Abby greeted.

"He-hey." Chester stammered without looking at him. It was normal for him to not look people in the eye when he talked to them, unless he knew them well.

"So, how are you two?" Greg asked, sounding more awkward than usual.

"We're just fine." Abby replied.

"I-I heard you got into trouble last Friday." Chester exclaimed, surprising the other two. He gazed up at the other boy, slightly. "Are you alright?"

Greg smiled a bit. "I'm fine. Um, is it okay if I borrow Abby for a bit?"

"Sure." Abby said as got up and left with Greg.

Kid Rot suddenly appeared next to Chester. _"Some people, eh? You save his life and he repays you by stealing your woman."_

"Shut up, Kid." Chester huffed and tried eating some disgusting mystery stew.

Abby and Greg walked over to a wall, out of earshot from Chester or anyone else.

"Okay, first off I want to apologize for what I said last Friday. I dint mean it and I definitely didn't want to hurt you." The blond boy pleaded.

Abby just smiled. "It's alright, Greg. I know what Paige does to people."

"Oh, good." Greg sighed relieved. "I want you to know, I never had any real feelings for Paige." He started scratching the back of his head. "I was just…going thru a lot in my life and I needed someone and…"

Abby defensively held up her palms and shook her head. "Greg, who you date is your private matter. It's none of my business."

Greg smirked. "It would be your business if you were the one I were dating."

Abby was taken aback. "Are you asking me out?"

Greg blushed. "Yeah, what do you say?"

Abby studied his face. He sure was handsome and she had to admit, she was kind of flattered but she didn't like him in that way anymore. "I like you, Greg and you are a nice guy but I think you and I were done with each other a long time ago."

He seemed disappointed by her answer. "We can always try again."

Abby raised an eyebrow while pulling a lopsided smile. "Are you sure you still have feelings for me or are you just trying to be nice cause you still feel bad?"

Greg was stunned silent before sighing. "Maybe…"

"Greg, I know you mean well but really, I'm fine." Abby reassured him and patted his arm. "The one you should try apologizing to is Paige."

"You may be right about that." Greg agreed and looked around the cafeteria. "Huh? Where is Paige anyway?"

* * *

Meanwhile at the Logan residence….

"Paige Logan, you are going to school today and that's final!"

"But mom…"

"No buts! No daughter of mine will be skipping school!" Paige's mom, Lorain Logan shouted as she shoved her daughter out thru the door. "Your ride is already waiting by the gate." She added before closing the door.

"You can't do this! I'm telling dad!" Paige screamed her head off at the locked door. She then sighed as she realized there was no point to argue. She started walking towards the gate at the other end of the courtyard when she suddenly heard something chirping. "Eek!" Paige jumped in fear, seeing a pair of sparrows on the lawn.

"Oh, it's just-just a pair of tweety birds." Paige laughed awkwardly to herself. She then heard squawking from above which sent shivers down her spine. Looking up, she saw a flock of geese flying across the sky in that typical V-shape formation.

She tried to ignore them and kept heading to the gate. Suddenly, a crow landed next to her and proceeded to pull a worm out of the dirt. "Eek!" Paige got so scared by the black bird that she started backing away from it. She lost track of her surroundings and tripped on something.

As she lied there, sprawled out on the grassy lawn, she saw what she had tripped over. It was the most horrifying thing she could imagine…

A plastic flamingo.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

* * *

Back at school…

Abby sat back down at her and Chester's table. "So, are you and Greg okay now?" Chester asked, slurping of his orange juice box.

"Yeah, all is fine."

"So…are you two getting back together?"

Abby's smile tugged a little. "I think that train left a long time ago."

Chester simple shrugged and kept slurping on his juice box.

As Abby looked at Chester, she couldn't help but think of those words Greg told her so long ago. Those words that were meant to be endearing yet just frustrated her. _"You're weird Abby but that's what I like about you."_

"Chester?" She asked carefully. "Do you think I'm weird?"

Chester blinked at her, puzzled. "No Abby, you're not weird. You're just…really good at being yourself. It makes you stand out but it certainly doesn't make you weirder than anyone else."

Abby smiled at his answer and Chester smiled back. The two then proceeded having their lunch together.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **So, I didn't kill off Paige but I did give her a severe case of ornithophobia. So that's always something.**

 **So I gave Paige's mom the name Lorain Logan. I can't remember if she were ever actually in the series and if so, if we ever learned her name so if anyone remembers, feel free to tell me.**

 **We are now pretty much done with this story. Only the epilogue is left and then we are done with episode 5.**

 **As always, I would appreciate any feedback you guys could give me.**

 _ **See you next time, Grossologists!**_


	7. Epilogue

**That Mockingbird Won't Sing**

* * *

 **Epilogue**

" _And if that dog named Rover won't bark, Papa's gonna buy you a horse and cart. And if that horse and cart fall down, you'll still be the sweetest little baby in town."_ Mr. Fowler finished his song with a sad sigh.

He was currently inside a holding cell in Splatticus Prison, awaiting a trial that wouldn't be for another week. Sitting on the stiff bed, he gazed sadly at the floor. The words of those two Grossologists were still fresh in his mind. If he could, he would go back in time and stop himself from doing what he did (or luckily, _tried_ to do).

He sighed again. "I am over 60 years old. How can I possible rebuild my life now? I'll rot away in here!" He covered his face and cried into his hands. "All I want is a chance to start over."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Fowler, there's a visitor here to see you." A male guard exclaimed loudly from the other side.

"Visitor?" Mr. Fowler blinked puzzled. He didn't have any friends or family members so who would wanna visit him? Maybe it was one of the elderly from that bingo hall he went to a few times. He dried off his tears with his sleeve. "Alright. Let them in."

The door opened and a tall, blonde man with a pleasant smile stepped into his cell. Mr. Fowler blinked in surprise. "Tony Logan?"

"Yep, that's me. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Fowler." Tony Logan greeted.

"Wha-what are you doing here? You're supposed to be a witness at my trial. Its not reasonable for us to meet like this." Mr. Fowler exclaimed. His mind was stressing to comprehend what was going on.

"Believe me, nothing we'll be discussing here will ever come up in a trial." Logan stated, keeping up his pleasant smile as if he was a friendly neighbour he'd known for years.

Mr. Fowler looked down at the floor again. He didn't know what to say but maybe it wouldn't hurt to show some remorse. "Mr. Logan, I am sorry for trying to kill your daughter and turning her into pie. Wow, saying it out laud really makes me sound like a psychopath. I am sick in the head and I need help. I promise, I'll never do anything like this again."

Ominously, Logan's pleasant smile turned into a sadistic grin. "Actually, I'm surprised no one has tried to kill her before."

Mr. Fowler looked up at the billionaire, confused. "Huh?"

"I may love her but I hold no delusions about my daughter. She's a narcissistic, greedy little monster. I can't tell you how many squabbles I've had to bail her out of. I really wish I could have raised her better but some goals takes precedents over childrearing." Logan explained. He then reached into his suit jacket and pulled out what looked like a lifeless crow with red eyes.

Mr. Fowler recognized it thou. "My spy crow?"

"Yes but to anyone else it looks a normal bird. You're constructs always look so lifelike. It's very impressive."

The former custodian stopped eyeing his robotic bird and looked back up at Logan. He blinked. _'Where is he going with this?'_

"Me and my associates have use for your skills and it would be a shame if a talent such as you would rot away in a place like this." Logan stated, his voice dripping with duplicitousness.

"But-but what about my crimes?" Mr. Fowler asked, barely able to believe what he was hearing.

"I am a very influential man, Mr. Fowler. One word from me will wipe away all that nasty business but only if you accept my offer."

A smile spread its way across Mr. Fowler's face. "Yes, oh yes. Thank you." He kept praising and took a hold of the taller man's hand. "Thank you so much! All I want is a chance to be integrated into society again."

Tony Logan smirked. "Oh, you will but it won't be _normal_ society."

Mr. Fowler blinked, his smile died down. "What do you mean?"

Tony Logan turned his hand slightly, the same hand Fowler's been holding. Mr. Fowler now noticed a peculiar looking ring on the billionaire's middle finger. The ring was made out of red amber with a black symbol inside it which looked like a melting D. It was like oil frozen in blood.

"Let's just say that my associates and I represent a society a bit more… _Dross_."

* * *

ENDING SONG: MOCKINGBIRD - ROB THOMAS

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **BOOM! Plot twist! Paige's dad was a member of the Society of Drossology all along and will be a recurring villain further on in the series.  
I always wanted the Grossologists to go up against a villain that seemed like an upstanding humanitarian but in actuality was just a shady business tycoon, similar to Lex Luthor from **_**DC-Comics**_ **or David Xanatos from** _ **Gargoyles**_ **. I thought since Paige's wealthy father was mentioned in the original series that he fit perfectly to fill this role. Also, the fact that he has a connection to one of the recurring characters makes it more interesting than if it was just some random OC.**

 **So that's it for episode 5. We are done with this story now and can move on to new things. I hope you guys enjoyed this story and as always, I'll appreciate any feedback you can give me.**

 **PS. I recently created my very own Grossology Amino. It's titled *The Grossology Amino*. Come check it out if you got Amino. You can chat and chare fanart with fellow Grossology fans.**

 _ **See you on the flipside, Grossologists.**_


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